Office of the Commissioner
of The Revenue
Real Estate Tax Relief

Eligibility Requirements
The Portsmouth Department of Social Services administers the tax
relief program for the City of Portsmouth. The two components of
this program are designed to either reduce or freeze the Real
Estate Tax liability for qualified elderly and/or disabled
homeowners.

To be eligible for the reduced taxes component of this program,
a household must have no more than $30,000 gross annual income
and financial reserves of no more than $75,000 (Excluding the
value of residence). Annual income is for the previous year and
reserves/assets are as of the last day of the previous year.
Based on the total household income, a percentage of abatement
from 10% to 100% is assigned to the total taxes due and the tax
bill is reduced by that amount. The new or lesser amount is
reflected in the first quarter tax bill of the tax year, which
is mailed out at the end of August.

To be eligible for the freeze, the household's income would be
in excess of $30,001 but less than $50,000 and/or the financial
worth between $75,001 and $175,000 (excluding the value of the
residence). While still responsible for the payment of Real
Estate Taxes, the amount of the taxes will be frozen at the
prior year's amount regardless of any increase in assessment or
tax rate.

Other Eligibility Criteria are:

The person making the
application must own or partially own the title
to the property for which the exemption is
claimed. If the applicant is a co-owner, the
exemption will be prorated.

The person making the
application must be permanently and totally
disabled or must be sixty-five(65) years old or
older as of June 30th of the immediately
preceding taxable year.

The person making the
application must be living in the home.

The person making application
shall not have disposed of assets to future
heirs within the preceding five(5) years if such
assets would have made the applicant ineligible.

Applications for the tax relief program are taken weekdays between
8:30am and 5:00pm from January 2nd through April 30th of each year at the
Portsmouth Dept. Social Services, 1701 High Street,Suite101. Forms are
also available at the offices of the Commissioner of the Revenue and the
City Treasurers offices at 801 Crawford Street, as well as the Public
Library branches. While these forms may be completed at home, the
application must be notarized before being submitted. Notary Services are
provided at no cost by Social Services as well as assistance in completing
the application forms if necessary. Forms for reapplication are
automatically mailed in early January to those individuals who were found
eligible for program benefits in the previous year. For further
information, please call 757-405-1800.